What is sand?
by Jessi

Comment by phlover:
The white halo at the bottom right distracts me.

Self
by Jessi

Comment by shalrath:
Ahh.. 85mm... the length of (albeit, very short) kings! A mighty lens! Enjoy it!

Self
by Jessi

Comment by TCGuru:
Composition: I like the way your arms frame your face.

Lighting/Exposure: Lighting is very nice. I look forward to seeing what you do w/this lens!!

Pose: Standard photographer pose. Nice hand cradling the lens there.

Suggestions for Improvements: I would crop this. To just above your head on the top and to just above your elbow on the bottom. When I do it with my hands, it looks much better. Brings your face into the limelight. :)

This is a very candid self portrait. Those come along rarely. :) Keep it up!!

Self
by Jessi

Comment by onesaint:
congrats on the lens!

Self
by Jessi

Comment by incubus:
I love that new lense smell!!!

Self
by Jessi

Comment by photokariangel:
good luck with your new lens! i recently bought a prime, but am getting a different one because the fixed mm was killing me slwoly.

What is sand?
by Jessi

Comment by cstein96:
this would be a lot more interesting had your dof been greater.

What is sand?
by Jessi

Comment by heli_guy:
I would have liked a bit larger DOF to keep the words in focus.

What is sand?
by Jessi

Comment by boyd2000:
Yes, it meets the challenge but isn't particularly interesting. Looks like it's a container of sand for agricultural use. I feel bad for those snowed in or landlocked with little sand available. No vote.

Christmas Snowflake
by Jessi

Comment by jeger:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

I was not able to vote on this challenge, but if I had, I probably would have given you a 6.

My first thought is that you have some very nice bokeh in the background. The random spacing and colours of the ovals keep this interesting. The crop on the snowflake could use some work. I feel as if it was cropped to close to the bottom as we can see just the stub of the bottom leaf of the snowflake. Either moving the crop down, or raising the snowflake slightly higher would be an improvement in my opinion. I like all the details in the snow flake, and the subtle reflections are nice as well. The right hand side of the snowflake is noisy due to the low depth of field. I believe this is because your ISO was set to 1600. I'm assuming you could get the same bokeh effect using ISO 100 and a tripod.

If you need any clarification on any of my comments, please feel free to pm me. It might take some time for me to get back to you.